ld still be democratic
without incurring any risk of tyrannical abuse.

I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in America at the
present day, but I maintain that no sure barrier is established against
them, and that the causes which mitigate the government are to be found
in the circumstances and the manners of the country more than in its
laws.

Effects Of The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Upon The Arbitrary
Authority Of The American Public Officers

Liberty left by the American laws to public officers within a certain
sphere--Their power.

A distinction must be drawn between tyranny and arbitrary power.
Tyranny may be exercised by means of the law, and in that case it is
not arbitrary; arbitrary power may be exercised for the good of the
community at large, in which case it is not tyrannical. Tyranny usually
employs arbitrary means, but, if necessary, it can rule without them.

In the United States the unbounded power of the majority, which is
favorable to the legal despotism of the legislature, is likewise
favorable to the arbitrary authority of the magistrate. The majority has
an entire control over the law when it is made and when it is executed;
and as it possesses an equal authority over those who are in power and
the community at large, it considers public officers as its passive
agents, and readily confides the task of serving its designs to their
vigilance. The details of their office and the privileges which they are
to enjoy are rarely defined beforehand; but the majority treats them as
a master does his servants when they are always at work in his sight,
and he has the power of directing or reprimanding them at every instant.

In general the American functionaries are far more independent than the
French civil officers within the sphere which is prescribed to them.
Sometimes, even, they are allowed by the popular authority to exceed
those bounds; and as they are protected by the opinion, and backed by
the co-operation, of the majority, they venture upon such manifestations
of their power as astonish a European. By this means habits are formed
in the heart of a free country which may some day prove fatal to its
liberties.

Power Exercised By The Majority In America Upon Opinion

In America, when the majority has once irrevocably decided a question,
all discussion ceases--Reason of this--Moral power exercised by the
majority upon opinion--Democratic republics have deprived despotism